Effect of Piper cubeba total extract and isolated lignans on head and neck cancer cell lines and normal fibroblasts

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the action of the crude hydroalcoholic extract of Piper cubeba fruits and isolated lignans (cubebin, dihydrocubebin, ethylcubebin, hinokinin and methylcubebin) on head and neck cancer cells. We evaluated the influence of the Piper cubeba extract and isolated lignans (10, 50 e 100 mg/mL) for 4, 24, 48 and 72 h, in the larynx (Hep-2) and oral (SCC-25) squamous cell carcinoma cells and normal fibroblasts, on morphology, cell proliferation and migration, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and gene and protein expression (PTGS2, PTGER3, PTGER4, MMP2, MMP9). The results showed that the P. cubeba extract and different lignans do not alter the cellular morphology, but decrease cell proliferation and migration, have low cytotoxic and genotoxic effects, probably due to the alteration of the expression of genes and proteins involved with inflammatory process. From these data, we can conclude that the lignans cubebin and methylcubebin had a greater effect on head and neck cancer cells in the antiproliferative, antimigratory and genotoxic action, and could be the target of the development of new therapies including possible new drugs as a therapeutic resource for the treatment of head and neck cancer due to its immense range of biological properties. (c) 2021 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Japanese Pharmacological Society. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

Automated summary

The study evaluates the effects of Piper cubeba extract and lignans on head and neck cancer cells, showing inhibitory effects on proliferation and migration, low cytotoxicity and genotoxicity, possibly through altering gene and protein expression related to inflammatory processes. Lignans cubebin and methylcubebin exhibit greater antiproliferative, antimigratory, and genotoxic effects, suggesting potential for new therapeutic developments in head and neck cancer treatment.